Sergio Aguero’s remarkable instinct for the dramatic and the improbable salvaged a point – but that wasn’t enough as United’s lead at the top grew inexorably bigger.

Sergio Aguero’s remarkable instinct for the dramatic and the improbable salvaged a point – but that wasn’t enough as United’s lead at the top grew inexorably bigger.

The little goal-getter turned in a City equaliser from a seemingly impossible angle just as it seemed the Scousers were going to escape from the Etihad with the points.

The visitors had hit back from being a goal behind to Edin Dzeko’s opener, with ex-City man Daniel Sturridge grabbing a controversial leveller and Steven Gerrard crashing in a trademark goal from distance.

But City’s famed powers of recovery only seem to stretch so far these days, and they could not conjure a third goal which would have trimmed the Reds’ lead back to seven points.

The Blues began brightly, going close within 50 seconds as David Silva flicked the ball up onto his own volley and crashed a shot which Pepe Reina finger-tipped over the bar.

And they kept up the pressure, but their defence began to look strangely fragile whenever Liverpool – and Luis Suarez in particular – applied any pressure.

City had not conceded a goal in 2013, but it became clear they were living dangerously here, with Matija Nastasic and Joleon Lescott as a central pairing.

A long ball by Glen Johnson seemed to be covered by Joe Hart as he came out of goal, but Sturridge nipped in to take it off him, and only a tremendous last-ditch tackle by Pablo Zabaleta stopped him turning the ball into the empty net.

Next it was Lescott’s turn to have an attack of the jitters, as he blasted his clearance straight at Johnson. The ball rebounded for Suarez, and the razor-sharp Uruguayan flashed a shot narrowly beyond the far upright.

With City looking to be their own worst enemies, they needed some inspiration at the other end, and duly got it in the shape of Silva and the ubiquitous James Milner.

The little Spaniard slid a great pass for Milner to race on to, and he measured his cross along the six-yard box to perfection for Dzeko to turn into an empty net.

Liverpool’s initial attempts to get back in the game bordered on comical, as Stewart Downing took a free kick from close to the by-line, chipping it to the edge of the box for the waiting Jordan Henderson.

His volley, rather than heading for the net, flew straight back at Downing, who was offside.

But the Blues were also coming up with some comic-cuts defending and referee Anthony Taylor decided to join in.

Daniel Agger clearly bundled into the back of Dzeko’s thigh, but the official played on, with City fans furious both at the lack of decision and at Liverpool’s refusal to put the ball out to allow the striker treatment.

Liverpool kept up the pressure, Javi Garcia panicked and got the ball stuck between his feet, and when Gerrard squared the ball, Sturridge crashed an unstoppable shot beyond Hart.

The goal took the wind out of City’s sails and the visitors began to fancy their chances of victory.

Zabaleta and Hart got in a mix in the last few seconds of the half, the Argentine ace’s back-pass evading the outcoming Hart and trickling past the post.

Liverpool again came out strongly in the second half and it took a vital near-post interception from Lescott to prevent Jose Enrique’s cross being met by Jamie Carragher.

City girded their loins and started to hammer away at the visitors’ defence, but without any real conviction.

Aguero’s pace troubled them but too often he was starting in his own half, giving the defence time to re-organise – you want to see him exploding off the shoulder of his marker, not picking it up in the centre circle.

As happened at QPR in midweek, City’s attempts to find a way through became increasingly witless, and Liverpool grew in confidence.

The visitors, perhaps stung by their FA Cup dumping down the road at Oldham last week, sensed a victory, and they looked like they might get it when skipper Gerrard rolled back the years with 16 minutes to go.

The England man is not the player he used to be, but his shooting has lost little of its venom, and when City failed to close him down 25 yards out, he crashed a fantastic shot neatly into the corner of Hart’s net.

City had been finding it difficult to break down the visitors’ defence, and it became increasingly apparent that they needed a bit of inspiration from somewhere. Aguero has been the go-to man so many times in the past and so it was again.

Gareth Barry’s diagonal ball out to the right flank looked optimistic at best, and even when Reina chased it, and lost the race with Aguero, the danger seemed minimal.

The City man had no colleague waiting in the middle and it seemed the best he could do was hold it up and wait for reinforcements.

But with unerring instinct and remarkable skill, he somehow swung the ball into the empty net from the most acute of angles.

That galvanised the Blues for a big finish, but Sturridge came closest to winning it, hammering in another shot from the edge of the box, but this time Hart flung himself full length to turn it away.

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